C&W Worldwide warns on earnings, CEO goes

LONDON

LONDON (Reuters) - Cable and Wireless Worldwide's CWP.L chief executive Jim Marsh resigned on Tuesday after the corporate telecoms group issued a profit warning just 10 weeks into its new financial year due to a slump in orders.

The company, which issued two profit warnings in its troubled first year as a standalone company, said core earnings would be between 5 percent and 10 percent below current market expectations, and said it would cut its intended dividend distribution for the current financial year by half to 2.25 pence a share.

The company, which split from the former Cable & Wireless in March 2010, said chairman John Pluthero, who was known for turning around the original C&W, had replaced Jim Marsh.

"Clearly it has been a very difficult 12 months and it is now important that we take the necessary steps to ensure the future growth of our business," Pluthero said in a statement.

"It has been easy to lose sight of what this business could be; it is my intention to reassert and realise that future."